Gervais angry over sketch ruling

British funnyman Ricky Gervais is furious after a radio advert
he wrote to raise awareness of prostate cancer was banished to a
late time slot.

In the "finger up the bum" sketch, the award-winning comic,
creator of The Office and Extras, performs a rectal examination on
a nervous patient.

But the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) has
recommended the advert only go out after 9pm or before 6am -
meaning it will miss much of its target audience.

The watchdog also insisted a "squish" noise be removed from the
clip, which was co-written by Gervais's comedy partner Stephen
Merchant.

Gervais branded the decision by the RACC "pathetic".

He said: "One of the reasons that people die of cancer is that
they don't get themselves checked. One of the reasons they don't
get checked is embarrassment over the issue.

"The radio authority has actually enhanced this as a taboo and
put the cause back."

The sketch was to be played as part of The Prostate Cancer
Charity's, Real Men Know All About It campaign.

Chief executive of the charity, John Neate, described the RACC
decision as a "serious misjudgment".

He added: "We do not believe this advertisement is offensive, it
does not contain offensive language and talks about a common,
medical examination.

"We insist it represents an important opportunity to bring
prostate cancer further into the light. That the RACC wants to
stand in the way of that is draconian, unnecessary and completely
unacceptable.

"This decision is a disgrace."

The patient in the ad is played by Gervais's Xfm radio station
producer Karl Pilkington, and the idea came from Pilkington's
horror at the thought of a rectal examination.

Prostate cancer, the most common form of the disease amongst
men, kills 10,000 people in the UK every year.

Many sufferers risk their lives because they are too embarrassed
to visit the doctor.